War continues Libya with fighting between rebels and Qaddafi forces western part of country 0705113

Posted On
Saturday, 07 May 2011 13:34

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Defense News - Libya

Saturday,
May 7, 2011, 07:36 PM

War
continues in Libya with fighting between rebels and Qaddafi
forces in western part of the country.

In
Libya, fighting between rebels and forces loyal to leader
Muammar Qaddafi continued in the western part of the country,
with mortar shells landing on the Tunisian side of the border.
Misrata, the only major city in the west of the country
which hasn’t fallen to Gaddafi’s army, has become
one of the bloodiest battlefields in the two-month conflict.

Libyan
men react as the main fuel depot in Misrata, Libya burns
after a bombing by pro-Gadhafi forces early Saturday, May
7, 2011.

Tunisia's
state-run Tunis Afrique Presse agency reported that more
than 30 artillery rounds fired by Qaddafi's forces fell
in the Tunisian town of Dahiba today after fighting broke
out near the Tunisian-Libyan border.

Some of the heaviest fighting has raged in Misrata, which
is of central importance to the rebels as their only major
stronghold near the centers of government power in the west
of the country. Most of the rebel forces are based in the
east.

Meanwhile, rebels accused Qaddafi loyalists
of using helicopters bearing the Red Cross emblem to drop
mines into the harbor of the besieged city Misurata.

NATO
confirmed that helicopters had flown over the city on May
5 in breach of the no-fly zone its war planes are supposed
to enforce. However the organization could not confirm that
the choppers were marked with the Red Cross sign.

Moammar Gadhafi's forces rocketed the main fuel depot in
Misrata on Saturday, intensifying a two-month siege on the
rebel-held city that has claimed civilian lives and prompted
warnings of a humanitarian crisis.